this morning, fast feud. >> it is round two at chick-fil-a. ground zero over the debate over gay marriage. nationwide protests are planned nationwide. storm watch. a system churning right now. threatening to become the season's first hurricane. golden glow. the showing by michael phelps, gabby douglas and the blowout on the hardcourt. and grudge match. a man so mad at police, he flattened all their cars with a

tractor, leaving officers no way to chase him. good friday morning. i'm sunny hostin, in for paula faris. >> and i'm rob nelson. chick-fil-a will be ground zero in the culture wars today. the restaurant chain set a sales record on wednesday, thanks to a nationwide buy-cot, in support to its president's opposition to same-sex marriage. >> today, a nationwide protest is in the works. and abc's tahman bradley has all the details. >> reporter: today, at chick-fil-a restaurants across the country, gay customers plan to fight back. not only showing up, but also kissing, in protest to the fast food's chain opposition to same-sex marriage. >> it's a way to show chick-fil-a and the rest of the country that our love is just as good as heterosexual love. >> reporter: chick-fil-a has been caught in the clash of gay marriage, after calling for a boycott of the restaurant, after the restaurant's president said

this about gay marriage. >> we shake our fist and say, we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage. >> reporter: that set off a firestorm on both sides of the debate. >> i believe marriage is between a man and a woman. >> this is an issue of freedom of speech. it's an issue of equality and human dignity. >> reporter: earlier in the week, chick-fil-a supporters arrived in droves. billy graham, mike huckabee and the palins showed their support. nearly 100,000 people have been invited to today's kiss-in. but some think the demonstration will have little impact on the company's bottom line. >> i agree with chick-fil-a's position. personally, i'll bet there are people who believe in gay marriage or are gay. and i'll bet you they're eating at chick-fil-a. >> reporter: chick-fil-a says it's always been up front about its core beliefs. the company's founder uses bib

lackal principals to run the business. they're closed on sundays. >> thanks, tahman. other news this friday morning, traffic is moving on interstate 55 in illinois, after a horrific bus crash was cleared away. a young woman was killed in that tragedy. the accident is once again raising alarms about the safety of the low-cost bus lines. abc's lisa stark has the story. >> reporter: it was a violent crash. the double-decker megabus traveling at highway speeds rammed into the concrete pillar of an overpass. investigators say it may have been a blown tire, causing the driver to lose control. there were more than 60 passengers onboard. at least one died. rescuers had to use ladders to reach those on the upper deck. dozens of ambulances and life-flight helicopters raced people to local hospitals, some critically hurt. the bus was traveling on interstate 55, from chicago to st. louis. then, scheduled to continue on

to kansas city. megabus is the largest so-called curbside bus operator on the u.s. buses that pick up passengers on the street, no depot. in december of 2010, four passengers died on a megambus, after the driver missed an exit and crashed in new york. there is increasing concern about the safety of these curbside bus operators overall. their cheap fares are afacting hordes of riders. passenger traffic jumped 30% last year alone. and the fatal accident rate for curbside buses, seven-times that of greyhound, according to the ntsb. megabus tells abc news it has a detailed safety and training program in place. and the company says it's working with investigators to try to figure out what went wrong. lisa stark, abc news, washington. tropical storm ernesto is barreling across the eastern

caribbean this morning with 50-mile-per-hour winds. ernesto is expected to drop line before passing near jamaica and puerto rico over the weekend. ernesto could grow into a hurricane as it approaches mexico next week. it's too soon to tell if it will affect the u.s. as this summer's drought gets worse, congress is battles over relief aid to livestock and tree farmers. the house restored an expired program to help them. but no action is planned in the senate because leaders are holding out for a vote on comprehensive five-year farm policy bill. >> what's the name of that storm again? >> ernesto. >> i appreciate that. mitt romney is back on the stump after his trip overseas. the republican presidential challenger promised to turn around the economy at two rallies. but harry reid says he knows why romney may not release more tax returns. reid is claiming a former bane

investor said that romney did not pay any taxes for ten years. romney says reid should put up or shut up about who that investor might be. other lawmakers agree. president obama campaigned in florida where he called romney's economic policies, quote, trickle-down fairy dust. supporters there serenaded the president with a chorus of "happy birthday." he turns 61 tomorrow. and his wish is to get electoral votes next november. time, now, for weather from across the nation. showers in the south from miami to nashville. a chance of afternoon thunderstorms in the northeast and midwest. hail, gusty winds and flash flooding from minneapolis to sioux falls. thunderstorms in the southwest. another scorcher in the plains. >> 102 in dallas. 110 in oklahoma city. they've had like 16 or 17-straight days of 100 degrees or warmer. they're baking in that part of the country. mostly 90s, meanwhile, across the east coast and plains.

80s in the northern rockies and pacific northwest. and when we come back, a huge food recall just announced. something you might have in your freezer. also ahead this morning, how tough is it to fool the irs? well, would you believe 2,000 tax returns from 1 address? and later, how did one angry man manage to crush a fleet of police cruisers and leave cops nothing to chase him with.

welcome back. well, there are mixed signals on the economy in advance of this morning's july unemployment report. the weekly jobless benefits report showed a little improvement. retail sales last month were better than expected, thanks to summer clothing purchases. but mortgage rates rose this week after hitting new lows for the last four weeks. federal officials have announced a major food recall involving literally tons of ground beef. 19 tons, in fact, of frozen bacon cheeseburger patties from the kenosha beef company are being recalled. the meat could have piece of gasket material in it. the burgers are sold in seven states in the east and in the midwest. well, it's looking even more likely there will be an announcement soon on the next iphone. sharp says it's about to start shipping new display screens to apple. sources say the screens are about 30% bigger than the current model. the official announcement is expected september 12th.

the company that put a major scare in wall street this week is now fighting for its life. knight capital's new software issued millions of accidental buy and sell orders within an hour. that glitch is now costing the broker 440 million bucks. that's most of its money. major customers have bolted. knight capital could face legal action. if you wonder where your tax dollars are going, here's an answer you're not going to like. the irs may have given more than $5 billion in tax refunds to identity thieves who filed fraudulent returns. one address in michigan alone was used to file more than 2,000 tax returns last year. how do they not catch that? well, when we come back, corn at the pentagon. a warning goes out to defense workers who have their eye on something other than national security. and more hard news this morning. golden moments. glory for team usa. and a look ahead to today's

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enjoy them with friends, because a lunch together feeds the friendship. a wildfire in northern california's threatening about 100 homes after scorching nearly 1,000 acres. the fire has been burning near the trinity national forest since wednesday. it's only about 20% contained. but officials hope to have it fully under control by sunday. >> how many wildfires have beseen this year? wow. now, we're looking at your morning road conditions on this friday. a wet commute across the south from florida to the tennessee valley. thunderstorms drench highways in the dakotas, minnesota and nebraska. and a slick ride in the four corners of the southwest. >> it's a good day for flying. just a couple weather-related airport delays in minneapolis and atlanta. and back to the news this morning. all operations remain shut down this morning at a key government nuclear facility in tennessee. this, as officials investigate

how protesters breached what should be an ultrasecure site. >> three activists, including this 82-year-old nun cut through four separate fences. they made it to the wall of the facility where highly-enriched weapons grade uranium is stored. some pentagon workers who were supposed to use their computers to keep the country safe, may have been caught to search the web for porn. the head of the defense agency has sent a memo, warning employees and contractors to stop watching porn and engaging in inappropriate use of government computers. the warning was sent after some of the implicit material was infected with malware. the family feud of michael jackson's children went another round in court on thursday. >> and the proceedings revealed new details about katherine

action's disappearance. brandi has the details. >> reporter: michael jackson's children are back in the guardianship of their grandmother, katherine. that was a ruling a judge made in los angeles on thursday. t.j. jackson, their cousin, does remain co-guardian. >> the role mrs. jackson has played is she's been a phenomenal guardian of the children. t.j. has been a phenomenal support. >> reporter: court documents in this case have raised more red flags about what sparked last month's custody battle. katherine had gone to an arizona resort, over what she thought were doctors orders to get rest. in court documents, katherine claims she trusted the people she was with in arizona to be honest with her. and they never told her the grandchildren were trying to reach her. she also stated in the court documents she was told the grandchildren were doing just fine.

rob and sunny, back to you. >> brandi, thank you. in rural vermont, an extraordinary revenge on the law. a man flattened seven sheriff's department vehicles by driving over them with a big farm tractor because he was so angry over his arrest for marijuana possession. the deputies couldn't chase after him because their cars were all destroyed. >> wow. scary. but smart. >> that's right. and it takes a lot of nerve to lead police on a car chase. it takes something else to do it in a car the size of a golf cart. take a look. in houston, a guy driving a smart car leaves cops on a chase at not-so-high speed. it didn't take long before they caught him and threw him in a squad car, where he had a little more room. and here we go. time for our olympics update, starting, of course, with swimming star, michael phelps. he goes for another gold medal today in the 100-meter

butterfly. >> phelps won the 20th olympic medal of his career yesterday in the 200-meter individual medley. fellow american, ryan lochte, was second. with his win, phelps became the first male swimmer to win the same individual event in three-straight olympics. >> superstar is an understatement for him. and that is the girl they call the flying squirrel. 16-year-old gabby douglas. we also need to call her the women's all-around gymnastics gold medal winner. >> it was the third-straight american to win the olympic all-around title. and the first african-american. it was her second gold of the games. the first time in the team competition. >> she had a great smile. you can tell how happy she was. what a night. and in men's hoops, it was a close game between team usa and nigeria. at least until it started. then, carmelo anthony and the rest of the new dream team were just unstoppable. >> anthony scored 37 points, a

u.s. record for an olympic game. and the team set several other offensive records on the way to a 156-73 victory. >> closer than i thought. so, here is the medals count, now, as we go into day seven of the competition. the u.s. is now on top with 37 medals total. 18 of them gold. >> china falls into second, three behind the u.s. japan remains in third. and coming up today, in addition to michael phelps' race, there's three other medal events in swimming. >> track and field begins today, with two medals on tap. men's shotput and the women's 10,000 meters. and the women's soccer quarterfinals. the u.s. taking on new zealand. lastly, that's rower hamadu musaka. we has finished last in three of his races so far. >> he only started rowing three

months ago and had never been in an olympic-style boat until this week. but he managed to win over lots of fans out there because of his enthusiasm and his olympic spirit, which is what it's all about anyway. >> he won me over. no question about it. >> not bad at all. coming up next, "the pulse," and a freak x-ray makes its way to the pages of a medical journal. you have to see this one. and from "the jersey shore." how pauley d. is raking in a staggering amount of money. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ [ female announcer ] and try aleve for relief from tough headaches.

to live the american dream. i'm proud to represent the usa because, to me, it's the best country in the world. this is what the red, white and blue means to me. what does it mean to you?

time to check "the pulse," the stories you'll be talking about today. and maybe today we'll call it the repulse. don't try this at home. >> we've seen x-rays showing weird stuff. but check this out from none other than "the new england journal of medicine." that's right. that's a butter knife lodged in the esophagus of a woman from atlanta. >> the woman was showing friends she does not have a gag reflex when she laughed and the knife got stuck. e.r. doctors managed to get it out. making it more bizarre, her husband says she swallowed another knife four years ago. >> not good. >> what do you say about that? all right. now, some unwanted notoriety for a summer intern with a minor league baseball team in florida. take a listen.

>> you're done. >> yeah. you might have heard the song "three blind mice" if you listened closely. >> the umpire took offense to the music and threw the p.a. operator out of the game. not only did he get kicked out, he was fined by the league. guy will be on "good morning america" this morning to explain. >> i guess the ump made a bad call. "three blind mice." the ump got sensitive about the song. >> kind of funny. you can't miss the hair, the tan and the muscles when you look at pauley d. but there's more than meets the eye. >> pauley d. made "forbes" new list of top-earning deejays. he raked in 11 million bucks in the last year. putting him in the number seven spot. pauley d. played more than 130 gigs last year, including 1

opening for britney spears. >> pauley d. pulled in $100,000 an episode for "jersey shore." he has a spin-off. the tanning lotion, cocktails and the list goes on. for some of you, local news and the list goes on. for some of you, local news is next. s. but how are they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or, "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork, hair-tearing-out, and yes, especially dollars. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call.

updating the top stories. supporters of gay rights have organized same-sex kiss-ins at chick-fil-a restaurants around the country. they aim to protest the opposition to same-sex marriage. a double-decker bus slammed into a concrete overpass in illinois. and tropical storm ernesto is churning through the eastern caribbean near barbados with 50-mile-per-hour winds. ernesto could become a hurricane near the yucatan peninsula. showers in the southeast. scattered thunderstorms from new england to milwaukee. severe storms in minnesota and the dakotas. scorching heat across the plains. and finally from us this

morning, from obama care, to the olympics, there was plenty for the late-night comics this week. >> here, now, your "friday funnies." >> today is the day that rush limbaugh tried to warn us about. >> the obama administration's controversial contraception mandate goes into effect today. >> that's right. free government birth control for all the ladies. don't forget, reset your watches and check your calendars because it is now whore-o'clock. >> the crowds were so big, that many restaurants ran out of chicken. oh, my god. run out of chicken. finally, a form of activism americans can fully embrace.

effecting social change through the act of eating a fast food sandwich. said gandhi, [ bleep ] me. i had it backwards. >> i've been watching the games in london. you know what i'm glad about? i'm glad their not miccing the athletes during the competition. >> total waste of time. >> ping. >> pong. >> ping. >> pong. >> ping. >> pong. >> i will re-create mckayla maroney's fantastic winning vault, just using this doll. and she'll vault over -- let's see. this twinkie on two sticks. [ cheers and applause ]